New Resources on Emergency Preparedness and War terrorism

Gayle Denny, ELEA Executive Director

In my position as Executive Director of ELEA, I receive a lot of interesting phone calls. There’s the parent whose straight “A” child got a “B” for their final grade which they felt was unfair, and since the school is accredited by ELEA, they would like to know what I can do about it. (The answer, by the way, is “nothing”. Our schools and early childhood centers, along with the ELCA congregations who sponsor them, are autonomous, and as a membership association, we have no jurisdiction over such matters.)

There’s the parent who had a complaint about a disciplinary action involving her child at one of our member schools. I explained to her that, as a membership association, ELEA did not get involved in these situations, but did offer to lend an ear. I suggested that she discuss the situation with the principal, and if no resolution was met, with the school board, and as a final step, possibly the pastor. She informed me that she had done all three without satisfaction and asked what was next. I told her I could only offer what I might myself do as a parent in that situation, and that was to accept the fact that the school and I could not see eye to eye and, since neither my child’s nor my needs were being met at that time, remove my child from the school. She said, “I don’t want to – I really like them. I was just hoping you could fix it.”

These are two examples of people I cannot help. However, there are many more inquiries (thank goodness) where I can lend my assistance.

There are pastors calling asking for advice on how to terminate an ineffective administrator, there are administrators asking for advice on how to cultivate a relationship with a difficult pastor. There are administrators and board members alike looking for legal counsel on matters relating to disgruntled parents and/or staff, advice on how to best prepare for school emergencies, and the list goes on.

Part of my job is to act as a resource person for these types of concerns. I do my best to direct people to the places, people, books, websites, videos, and other resources which best address their needs.

I am very pleased to be able to share with you some great resources that I have discovered on some very timely topics. I hope you will find them helpful.

• In an effort to provide school leaders with more information about emergency preparedness, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge on March 7 unveiled a new section on the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Web site – www.ed.gov/emergencyplan - designed to be a simple resource to help school officials plan for any emergency, including natural disasters, violent incidents and terrorist acts. The Education Department has been working with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies on school preparedness. In addition, the Department along with experts from around the country has developed a model emergency response and crisis management plan, which is available at the new Web site. This is a particularly good resource for elementary and high schools.
  
  
• Bright Horizons Family Solutions (a company dedicated to providing corporate on-site child care and family care facilities) has offered its Emergency Preparedness Plan to early care and education centers in the hope it may be a valuable resource and prevent the need for time-strapped programs from having to reinvent the wheel. This is a great piece for early childhood programs, but can be adapted for elementary and high schools as well. It is adapted for generic use in a Word version to facilitate further adaptation of the information for your specific situation. “Ready to Respond Emergency Preparedness Plan for Early Care and Education Centers” covers:
  
  * Evacuation procedures and process
  * Sheltering/Sheltering in place
  * Medical emergencies
  * Natural disaster; hurricane, tornado, severe storms
  * Utility disruption
  * Fire/smoke emergencies
  * Hazardous materials
  * Bomb threat and suspicious articles
  * Potentially violent situations and random acts of violence
  * Hostage situations
  * Missing child
  * Disgruntled impaired Parents, Guardians, or Parent’s - Guardian’s authorized representatives
  
  
• Bright Horizons is committed to making available resources to early care and education centers and parents to support children and families. To access this plan, go to this address: http://www.brighthorizons.com/talktochildren/. If you do not have internet access, I have downloaded the plan and would be happy to mail you a hard copy. Just call me at 800-500-7644. You will also find some great information on this web site on talking with young children about war and terrorism.

• Regarding talking with children about war and terrorism, on Page 3 you will find a list of resources, many of which offer very good, practical advice. Neither ELEA nor its contributors specifically endorse or reject any of those listed - we are only sharing links.  (see resources below)
  
  
• Finally, with assistance from and in cooperation with Fireman’s Fund Insurance Companies, we are very excited about a new web site resource AVAILABLE TO ELEA MEMBERS ONLY called Agosnet. Agosnet is a web based resource which offers powerful, employment related risk management tools. As a 2003-2004 ELEA member, you will be signed up for access to this site and its training bulletins on various employment topics, sample employment documents, and a whole host of other great information written by a team of attorneys and other employment law specialists. A password will be issued to you with your initial membership packet so you can start using the site right away!

I hope you will take advantage of some of this great information. Please call me at the ELEA National Office at 800-500-7644 or email at eleanational@cs.com if I can be of assistance.

NOTE: If you do not have internet access, I encourage you to think strongly about a fundraiser or finding a donor within your congregation who may be willing to pay for that service so you can take advantage of the many “web only” resources.

Resources for Talking with Children about War and Terrorism

Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) - a free, 20-page guide called “Talking to Children about War and Violence in the World.” Available at www.esrnational.org, this guide provides info about how to discuss war and other violent events with children.

"How parents can talk to their children about war: advice from Cornell child-development expert James Garbarino" can be found in the Free Resources section of www.ChildCareExchange.com.

Coordinators' Notebook on "Children as Zones of Peace" http://www.edcgroup.com/issue_19_children_as_zone_of_peace.asp.

The chapters on Courage, Tolerance, and Compassion in The Values Book by P. Schiller, and T. Bryant, from Gryphon House in Beltsville, Maryland.

Brochure for parents from the Parents as Teachers National Center at www.patnc.org under "What's New". 

The National Association for the Education of Young Children has a variety of helpful resources at: http://www.naeyc.org/resources/eyly/1998/22.htm.

www.ChildCareExchange.com - Two recent articles for helping children in times of trauma: "Children Need Attentive Support during Wartime"; and "Making it Better". In addition in the same section you will find "Guidelines for Helping Children During the War". You can access these articles by going to: http://mail.ccie.com/catalog/free_articles.php.

Australian Early Childhood Association at http://www.aeca.org.au/Effects%20of%20War.html.

Zero to Three provides advice for protecting and reassuring very young children at: http://www.zerotothree.org.

The United Nations offers a curriculum on peace education at: http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/peace/index.asp.

UNICEF - For information on the status of the children of Iraq, go to: http://www.unicefusa.org/emergencies/iraq.

New York University Child Study Center. Resources for helping parents, teachers and mental health professionals explain war and terrorism to children can be found at: http://www.aboutourkids.org.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: www.usccb.org/publishing/peace/index.htm.

Focus on the Family: www.focusonyourchild.com.

LifeWay Christian Publishing House: www.lifeway.com.

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